Kathryn Johnston

The 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which gives equal rights to the life of both the mother and her unborn child, was approved by referendum on 7 September 1983 and signed into law on 7 October 1983. In that autumn of 1983, a 15-year old schoolgirl found out she was pregnant. Her name was Ann…

Motion 157 This DM notes that, more than sixteen years after the murder of the investigative journalist and Belfast Branch officer Martin O’Hagan, there have been no convictions for the crime, despite the identities of those who ordered and carried out the assassination being widely known. Noting the failure of the investigation by UK police services,…

Many years ago, Edward Said, the towering Palestinian American intellectual who founded the academic field of post-colonialist studies said in Orientalism: ‘Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy,…

Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it! When I read President Trump’s tweet last week, I was shaken – just like…

Speaking at a Diem 25 Belfast meeting on Saturday afternoon, former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis exclusively told SocialNews of a new Italian political movement. Thanks to Kathryn Johnston. “In Italy the political party scene is very sad. But at the level of civic, at the level of local government, there are some very interesting and…

The UK daily papers are full of outrage that Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) blocked proposals yesterday that would have moved Northern Ireland’s customs border to the Irish Sea. The 10 DUP MPs are currently propping up Theresa May’s minority Conservative government on a confidence and supply basis. Theresa May’s premiership could not continue…

Who knows what will be on the menu when Theresa May dines with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker today? Until after they meet, there can be no certainty about the terms that have been placed on the table. Ireland have already said that they doubt enough progress has been made over the weekend to avoid…

In Hamlet, Marcellus, an officer of the palace guard, seeing the ghost of the dead king, walking over the palace walls, observes, ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’. Shakespeare would be spoiled for choice for a location for those words today – whether in Brussels, Washington, Westminster. Or indeed, at Stormont,…

This morning, I read this piece on hurricanes, climate change and human responsibilities in Social News by Max Fanni Canelles. It made me think of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s recent visit to Derry, the walled city in Northern Ireland, as a guest of the organisation ‘Children in Crossfire’ which is marking 20 years of…

Just before yesterday’s murderous and callous attack on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, my daughter had stopped there for coffee. She was preparing to say farewell to Barcelona, her home all summer since, like so many young Irish people, she had moved there in May for the summer. It was her last day. She had intended…

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Demonstrators hold placards with some featuring a picture of Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a protest against internet censorship in Istanbul May 15, 2011. Thousands of people marched in central Istanbul to protest against the government’s plan to filter the internet. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

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